And this time, the defendant was Nicole Richie. This morning, she entered a guilty plea in her DUI case at a L.A.-area court, according to the Associated Press.

Her punishment? Four days in jail, a fine, three years of probation and an order to “enroll in a drug and alcohol program,” the AP said.

Back in December, the socialite – wait, is she an actress, too? I lost track of what she actually does – was reported driving in the wrong direction on an L.A.-area freeway. She told cops at the time that she had smoked pot and had taken the painkiller Vicodin, the AP said. Yikes.

For today’s court appearance, Richie arrived on the arm of rocker boyfriend Joel Madden. Where were her parents? Come on, Lionel. Show some support!

She was wearing a little black dress (a pretty cute one, too, if I can be a fashion critic for a bit), the obligatory over-sized sunglasses and super high stilettos.

Some gossip sites pointed out the sentence nor the crowd of paparazzi weren’t Paris-sized. Oh, darn. I say give the woman some credit – she ‘fessed up to her mistake and is facing the consequences. Let’s see if she emerges from the pokey as a changed woman, like her BFF did. And we’re still waiting to hear if those pregnancy rumors are true . . .

Still wondering who’ll take Rosie O’Donnell’s place on “The View”? People magazine (http://www.people.com)is reporting that sources say the top two candidates are comedians Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd. “The View’s” people are not confirming but an announcement is expected next week. I have to ask, though: Does any one still even watch “The View” or care about who’s the next co-host?

Cheers, Spice Girls fans: The girls have added a San Jose stop to their upcoming reunion tour. They’ll be here Dec. 4. But no word yet on when tickets go on sale or even the exact venue (I’m guessing they’ll be at HP Pavilion but don’t quote me on that).

Catch Lyric Theatre’s “Quaker Girl,” an operetta about Prudence, an English Quaker girl who transforms high fashion and falls in love in Paris. 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Mission City Center for the Performing Arts at Wilcox High School, 3250 Monroe St., Santa Clara. $20. (408) 986-1455, http://www.lyrictheatre.org. Check out more things to do in our daily “3 Things to Do Today/3 Things to Do Tomorrow” feature at http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment.